Need Help tweaking HFW5231E-Z12 for night @ 240ft

[Bitslizer]

Better off turning off the IR on the camera (no spiderwebs) and build a discrete housing for the Axton.

The z12 is actually acting like very nice IR illuminator for my backyard lol

 

[Davahad]

The newer cams without the ring of IR LED are less prone to spiderwebs. My Z12 has never had a spiderweb problem, nor any of my other Dahua cams. As always, YMMV.

I have one location with bullet cam IPC-HFW1831EP (2 Emitters) and have constant spiderwebs. All other locations multiple external Axton Emitters and all IR turned off on cameras no spiders ever.

 

[bigredfish]

Yep, Spiders are attracted to IR regardless of form factor of the camera. Bullet, dome, Turret all get them at some point.

 

[Bitslizer]

Theory seem to be holding. Waiting for night to confirm my el cheapo ir spotlight conversion is enough to supplement the z12

3 shots, all roughly aimed at the same place on my wall


1 - 60 degree lens that came with the illuminator.
2 - No (secondary) lens (very diffused look at the reflection on the ground, there is a primary lens built into the led and I think the primary is 120 degree),
3 - Regular led 8 degree lens (note these were not ir specific lens as I couldn't find any 15 degree or less IR lens with prime shipping and don't want to wait for China shipping lol)

For reference this is the 8 degree LENs i got and a 5 degree alternative. They are very easy to swap the black housing is just push fit onto the LED, there was no glue or solder holding the original lens/housing

uxcell 10 pcs 20mm LED Lens 8 Degree with Holder for Led Light - - Amazon.com

uxcell 10 pcs 20mm LED Lens 8 Degree with Holder for Led Light - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

uxcell 10 pcs Led Lens 5 Degree with Black Holder for 1W 3W High Power LED Light - - Amazon.com

uxcell 10 pcs Led Lens 5 Degree with Black Holder for 1W 3W High Power LED Light - - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[wittaj]

Wow that last one really tightens up the IR - horrible for overview but perfect for LPR.

Can't wait to see tonight's results!

 

[Bitslizer]

Wow that last one really tightens up the IR - horrible for overview but perfect for LPR.

Can't wait to see tonight's results!

Have some family plan tonight so I may miss the prime traffic hour in the early evening

Any idea if I should mount it about 6 ft off the ground or from my second story window would get better result?

 

[wittaj]

Family plan means they drive up and down that spot to help you align up the IR light

 

[Bitslizer]

Family plan means they drive up and down that spot to help you align up the IR light

Family help usually mean the more they help the busier you get, that's mainly due to the kids are young... looking forward to when the boy is older and I can actually teach "dad" stuff

 

[Bitslizer]

Granted this proof of concept is only about 4 watt and 4 led, but there's no reason why this can't be use to convert the more led one. Z12 only have 2 far led anyway

 

[wittaj]

The closer in height it is to the area you are trying to capture, the easier the alignment LOL. But could a neighbors fence or van in a driveway block it in the future?

I would think at the distance you are trying to cover, the higher angle and offset from where the camera is could end up not reflecting back as much, but at the same time I think you don't need that much based on your other captures.

 

[Bitslizer]

The closer in height it is to the area you are trying to capture, the easier the alignment LOL. But could a neighbors fence or van in a driveway block it in the future?

I would think at the distance you are trying to cover, the higher angle and offset from where the camera is could end up not reflecting back as much, but at the same time I think you don't need that much based on your other captures.

I know I need to mount the camera higher as I think a lot of the issue I'm suffering from are lens flare due to that section of the road is a slightly upward incline, shining the light into my camera. The lens flare hurt contrast a lot. For the IR emitter I can get slightly better horizontal angle closer to the ground vs hanging out the second story window where the horizontal is not as good but I can get higher degrees of vertical angle more parallel to the camera. Eventually I should be able mount them in a better place but not about to toy with a 22ft ladder tonight

 

[wittaj]

Mine is on the 2nd story soffit and my house sits about 10 feet higher than the road, so where I am aiming at is about 30-35 feet of difference and I do think that helps with that straight on washout you are getting, but at the same time, I would think you could tone it down some with settings.

 

[Bitslizer]

For testing right now mounting the IR at head height so I can easily adjust it without hanging out the second story window. I'm just wondering if a more parallel IR path with the camera would be better or a vertically offset the camera vs IR so a angled reflection path would work better. Eventually I will be mounting the z12 about 15-20 ft at the permanent location, but I don't want to start drilling the (new) house until i'm satisfied the solution will work.

There's actually a 5 degree lens (vs the 8 i got) but prime shipping would still have been tomorrow where I got the illuminator today so I didn't want to wait

 

[Bitslizer]

Try to set everything up by eyeball before our family plan, was a little bit off on my aim maybe a bit too low and a bit too left. Putting the kids to bed... Can go tweak after that.

For comparison, just the z12's 4 led down this axis (watch the trees shadow) vs in addition to this new El cheapo converted spot light. Preliminary plates are a little better but let me see if I can tweak more

 

[Bitslizer]

Reaim the IR illuminator it does help but still fit a disappointing rear plate shot (for some reason rear has always been worse than front)

I forced the exposure to be the same to see the difference shutter was locked at 1/30 and gain at 50-50 and iris at 100

Z12 led and illuminator led off
Z12 led on, illuminator off
Z12+illuminator on

Traffic is going to die off this late at night, I probably won't get many more cars. I guess I will try breaking out the ladder tomorrow to mount the camera higher to see if it fix the lens flare issue

 

[wittaj]

Seems to make a good difference. Hopefully that translates well to reflective plates at faster shutter.

 

[wittaj]

Given you angle being straight on and how much the light shine was messing with the image, maybe try lowering the brightness more.

 

[Bitslizer]

Will try that, I also change the shutter from 1/500 and 1/1000 to 1/2000. Before it's just too dark at 2000.

 

[Bitslizer]

So 1/2000 was too dark even with 60 gain and 100 iris. The plate was alot of gain noise. Dial it down to 1/500 and 50 gain and seem to have good result. Not sure if this was a fluke or not. Have to see if this is consistent. The worse capture rate has always been car coming from the right and turning right going away from the camera. Which this shot was and I'm happy with this result of it's consistent.

Moved my camera and light with the ladder today, light is up by second story window. Yesterday the camera was probably 5 ft lower and light was about 5 ft off the ground. Camera is now about 12ft off the ground

Once again locked shutter 1/15 gain 50 iris 100 and tested various lighting condition

 

[Bitslizer]

Maybe turning off hlc helped too shrug. Same car coming and going, the going was also the most challenging from right turn right away